The desk lamp was the only source of light in Xue Tangyao's room.
He sat at his desk with the first volume of his Grade 10 math textbook open in front of him. Its pages were pristine, hardly turned, a stark contrast to the fifth volume, which he'd been using as a pillow.
An hour passed.
His mind felt like a muddled lump of paste, buzzing incessantly.
"If set A = {x | x > 1} and set B = {x | x > 2}, find A ∩ B..."
It was such a simple problem, yet he stared at it for a full five minutes before hesitantly drawing a number line on his scratch paper and marking the answer.
Too slow.
Too rusty.
The knowledge he'd let slip away over the past two years had become a bottomless black hole, swallowing the little bit of confidence he'd just begun to regain.
Frustration rose from deep within him, like countless ants gnawing at his patience.
Without thinking, he reached for the phone at the corner of his desk.
All he had to do was turn on the screen, scroll through some short videos, and play a couple of games, and the pain and torment would vanish at once. That familiar, comfortable world was beckoning to him.
Just as his fingertip was about to touch the screen, he stopped.
